I was all set to write a post about racism and sexism, but it would've been about the 08 race and I figure we've had enough of that recently. Instead I decided to post two must-see videos that came to my attention this week. They are incredibly different but each worthy of comment. I have a lot to say about each but I figured I'd just introduce each in order and hope that we get some comments going on them, and then I would write some of my thoughts in response to your comments. So please do watch one or both and leave a comment, even if it's only two words, or one of those ultra annoying blog abbreviations (LOL does not apply to either of these videos, believe me!).
If you are in NYC, you need to come to Roshi O'Hara's guest lecture tonight, "Zen and the Art of Activism."
Click Here
The first video is a lecture given at a TED science conference by neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor about suffering a stroke and coming into contact with non-conceptual mind. It's pretty amazing. Very amazing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU]
Okay, did you watch it?
Now, switching gears completely, here is the scary video of NYPD scuffling with Tibetan protesters near the UN a few weeks ago. I have thoughts of my own on protesting in NYC, the draconian parade laws, and basic human decency and suffering, but let me know how it strikes you. This one is embedded from youtube.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7NUNwq2MGc]
Okay, let me know how they strike you....
Interdependent art? Without plastic bags, we wouldn't have this!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/L-a607j2dOo&hl]
SVA (School of Visual Arts) student Joshua Allen Harris makes these around the new york city streets (btw, for out-of-towners--that's a subway grate, and air gusts out of it when trains go by).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/Ir0U3VNYg_w&hl]
A big thanks to the most excellent Mark and Sarah of http://woostercollective.com for this one!
Three great non-dharma-related blogs scored book contracts this month: Stuff White People Like struck a deal with Random House, Bent Objects with Running Press, and, my personal favorite, Not Eating Out in New York, signed up with Gotham Books. I like the "consuming less, eating more" tagline of this last blog, and the idea that this will be a cookbook designed with tiny Brooklyn kitchens in mind. (Check out the Obama Rolls: tasty, if politically incorrect!) So, three cheers for all these writers.
Dharma Bloggers: you have your work cut out for you. It's time a Buddhist blog-based book deal was struck, and I want to see drafts of book proposals from each of you by this time next week. I'm not kidding. Please submit all proposals electronically to the Emma Sweeney Agency, attn: Eva Talmadge.
To help with the writing, here's a great web resource: Backspace. They have a nice long excerpt up from thriller writer David Morrell, which won't help any of you in scoring your blogs-to-riches deals, but may help the fiction writers among us re-examine what we think we're doing, exactly, and above all why. And then get back to writing blogs.
Finally, if you're ever bored in blog-land and looking to surf the Dharma web, here's a nice set of links: the 2008 Blogisattva Awards, featuring some of the best Buddhist bloggings (aside from this page, of course) to be found anywhere.
Now get to work.
A friend of mine has a friend who recently saw a play, "The Buddha - In His Own Words" and recommended it to me. When pressed about it he said, simply, "it's supposed to be good." It's not much of an endorsement, but it looks interesting and comes highly praised by Mark Epstein, author of the excellent Thoughts Without A Thinker.
Seems worth a look.
-Stillman
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaP9eiWuX3s&hl=en]
I'm sorry... I simply could not resist.
Love,
Cassmaster
By Stillman Brown Regular readers know I've been swept up in the cacophony of chatter surrounding the race for the Democratic presidential nominee. Some of my commentary, I feel, has been worth reading, mostly for it's entertainment value. Some, not...
First of all, do hypocrisy and irony get any bigger and bolder than Eliot Spitzer? That is my first question. I mean, come on. I already said this to Will.I.Am but....Cognitive dissonance much? No. Seriously. Come on. WTF. As...
By Stillman Brown A few weeks ago, my roommate Becca and I were eating Chinese and watching Scrubs reruns on Comedy Central when a small, fast-moving gray object streaked out from under the futon and disappeared into a small ring...
This is a succinct and thoughtful essay about the Spitzer debacle by Martha Nussbaum of the University of Chicago Law School. (University of Chicago Philosopher MARTHA NUSSBAUM on the Spitzer Resignation, from the Atlanta Journal Constitution...) Trading on America's puritanical...
During the IDP Day of Activism in February, Melanie Einzig and I partnered up to canvas local shopkeepers about their use of plastic bags and willingness to consider alternatives. As we walked around the neighborhood, she told me about a...
The news in Tibet: BBC, Reuters. Tricycle has some coverage, too. I'm reading the new Philip Roth novel right now, Exit Ghost, and am back into Nathan Zuckerman mode: not wanting to know anything about the outside world at all,...
Good morning everyone. I am sorry that I have been so AWOL from the blogosphere.... circumstances in my life have been cRaZy as of late. So this morning, I just want to pass along a link to an interview between...
The class structure is very clearly stapled to the bulletin board, laminated in the school colors, orange and blue. "Tune In! Warm Up! Learn and Try! Relaxation!" They know their sun salutation, are getting the poses down. They know what...
A riff on "the suffering of cappucino" described in One City. A riff on greed, on anger, on consumer frustration. And how every little thing is on the path. Damn it. On Thursday night, I attended the PLUG Independent Music...
This week, I'll be posting replies to a few of the many emails I receive from eager readers. Dear Stillman, I'm a successful graphic designer living in Brooklyn. I'm married to my college sweetheart and on the weekends I play...
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
